Review by Howard Anderson © 2003 Howard Anderson

Story

It sounded like just another urban legend - a videotape filled with
nightmarish images, leading to a phone call foretelling the viewer's death in exactly seven days. As a newspaper reporter, Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) was naturally skeptical of the story, until four teenagers all met with mysterious deaths exactly one week after watching just such a tape. Allowing her investigative curiosity to get the better of her, Rachel tracks down the video ... and watches it. Now, she must enlist the aid of her friend Noah (Martin Henderson) to save her life and the life of her son (David Dorfman). Together, they have just seven days to unravel the mystery of "The Ring."

Review

Five years have passed since director Hideo Nakata reinvented the Asian film industry with his adaptation of the horror novel, "Ringu", written by Suzuki Koji as the first in a series of four books that also include "Rasen", "Loop" and "The Birthday."
In a region of the world that up until then was best known for producing martial arts and action flicks, this deeply disturbing film created ripples that soon after spread far beyond the boundaries of Japan by word of mouth alone, and has since then spawned a multitude of movies exploring the same dark territory in terms of supernatural terror spiked with a harsh psychological edge.

When it was announced in early 2002 that Dreamworks had acquired the remake rights to this groundbreaking Japanese frightener, most if not all fans of the original instantly feared the worst, and with good reason, as the history of Hollywood when it comes to the violation of foreign films in the interest of reworking the material for their own commercial market, is nothing if not grim. But as luck would have it, this time those concerns turned out to be completely unfounded, as "The Ring" actually gets it right, and not only that, but it gets it right to the point where the remake is in no way inferior to the original.

Director Gore Verbinski has created a supernatural thriller that not only remains faithful to the Japanese version, but also expands upon and further develops the urban myth and the nightmarish videotape it pertains to. There are elements introduced here that actually makes this film even more frightening and disturbing, such as the bad dream sequence and the horse incident aboard the ferry, where especially the latter will leave you with a feeling of unease that should remain with you for a long time after. The task of getting under the skin and into the mind of an audience is a difficult thing to accomplish, but here the writing talents of Ehren Kruger [...as well as an uncredited Scott Frank - Ed.] and the skillful direction of Gore Verbinski has instilled "The Ring" with the ability to do just that, and despite having sat through the original more than once, this remake was still able to make me fearful of the dark all over again.

Image

"The Ring" is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, and features a picture that is rich in detail and without any noticeable blemishes or defects to speak of. The palette of colors used by the filmmakers adheres mainly to a blueish tint that gives the film a very fittingly cold feel in this rainsoaked landscape, and this DVD is more than up to the challenge of rendering natural skin tones, strong blacks and deep shadows to make every speck of horror even more horrifying.

Sound

"The Ring" is equipped with both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 soundtracks, and the experience is a most impressive one, especially in the case of the DTS track, which has the proficiency to create an even fuller soundstage with an even wider range than its Dolby Digital companion. The mix is a subtle phonetic work that takes full advantage of all channels to establish a most unsettling environment, and when it's called upon it to go for the throat, then it does so in spades.

Features

Despite "The Ring" being a huge success, the extra features on this disc are rather sparse. There are no making-of documentaries, no behind-the-scenes look at the incredible make-up effects by Rick Baker, no interviews with the cast and crew, and no audio commentary tracks by the director or any of the actors. What we do have, is a collection of alternate and deleted scenes that, on the back of the cover, is described as "a never-before seen short film created by Gore Verbinski exclusively for the video release that reveals more electrifying secrets about the mystery of The Ring."
A collection of deleted and alternate scenes that go on for about fifteen minutes does not a short film make, and to put that claim on the cover is more than just a bit misleading. There is also a collection trailers included, including the American trailer for "Ringu", as well as a few other Dreamworks titles. And then there's the hidden feature, in the form of the full footage of the cursed videotape that you can access on the disc's main menu. Watch if you dare...

Overall Opinion

If you're in the mood for a film with an exceptional cast that tells a terrifying story capable of inducing nightmares, then "The Ring" might be just the ticket. While the quality of the DVD is excellent, the extra features are unfortunately a bit lacking, but despite that fact, this is still a more than respectable release from Dreamworks.